Nonfiction Wednesday

 

I'm excited that Alyson Beecher, at Kid Lit Frenzy, is continuing her Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge for the third year in a row.

 

I'm featuring books about animals today.  It may be a stretch to call these picture books nonfiction, but I would categorize them as literary nonfiction.  Aren't the covers of both magnificent?!

 

 

On the Wing by David Elliott, illustrated by Becca Stadtlander

 

2014-book, birds, creative-nonfiction, nature, nonfiction, nonfiction-challenge-2014, picture-book, poetry   I enjoyed the poetry and illustrations celebrating birds in this picture book. I smiled at word play such as "but your singing voice, my friend,/is pure caw-caw-phony" and the sweet cardinal poem, "He's a hotshot/valentine./She's a Plain Jane./But one without/the other.../a song with no refrain." Some poems were especially spare: "The Puffin/is unique---/especially/its beak." I would have liked more information in the back about each bird.     Something about a Bear by Jackie Morris   2014-book, animals, creative-nonfiction, nature, nonfiction, nonfiction-challenge-2014, picture-book     A gorgeous illustration and literary paragraph accompanies each bear featured in this book. Did you know the Spectacled Bear "sunbathes through the heat of the day" and that white Black Bears are the "rarest, sacred spirits of the forest?" Illustrations capture bears hunting for salmon, cradling cubs, watching out for wild leopards, and swimming through icy waters. Nature lovers will want this book for their libraries!